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Russian, Syrian diplomats discuss Syrian Constitutional Committee

Special attention was paid to forming the committee as soon as possible, so that it could begin its work

MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin met on Tuesday with Syrian Ambassador in Russia Riyad Haddad to discuss completion of work to set up the Syrian Constitutional Committee and the launch of its activity in Geneva, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

It said the sides "exchanged opinions on the development of the situation in Syria and around it, including prospects for a political settlement in the country. Specific attention was paid to issues of completing work to form the Constitutional Committee as soon as possible and to launch its work in Geneva," the ministry said.

On December 18, the foreign ministers of the three guarantors of the Astana process (Russia, Iran and Turkey) - Sergey Lavrov, Mohammad Javad Zarif and Mevlut Cavusoglu - held a meeting with UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura in Geneva but failed to finalize a list of Syrian constitutional committee members.

In the final statement, Russia, Iran and Turkey confirmed plans to convene the first meeting of the Syrian Constitutional Committee in Geneva early in 2019. The document, however, did not say that the list of the Constitutional Committee participants had been coordinated.

The decision to set up the Constitutional Committee was made at the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi on January 30, 2018. It will include delegates from the Syrian government, the opposition and the civic society.